


Fragments

by maverickmabel



Series: That Which Is Essential [4]
Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Comic, F/M, Fanart, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22469899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maverickmabel/pseuds/maverickmabel
Summary: Snickets convene, Ernest runs errands.
Relationships: Ernest Denouement/Lemony Snicket, Frank Denouement/Jacques Snicket
Series: That Which Is Essential [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1350814
Comments: 39
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1




	2. Chapter 2

Lemony Snicket was reluctantly recounting some events to his siblings he’d hoped never to tell. Reluctant, not so much because of the intimate nature of the story - he made a point of glossing over those areas - but because of the inevitability of the following reaction.

“...so,” Lemony finished, “I’m pretty sure Ernest either has a crush on me, or wants me to think that he does, which in effect are so similar they may as well be the same thing.”

Jacques sat up a little straighter. “In a usable way?”

Lemony stared down at the tabletop, and nodded slowly. “Maybe.”

“Interesting.”

Kit poked Jacques in the shoulder. 

“Don’t encourage him.”

“Of course not! ...Lemony makes his own decisions, that’s been made perfectly clear.”

Lemony frowned. “I’d rather you didn’t refer to me as if I were still a child, thank you. Besides, this is not the first time I have found myself in a situation in possession of wiles.”

Jacques stifled a smirk. “You _do_ intend to pursue this line of enquiry then? Is that safe?”

“As safe as anything I’d otherwise be doing for the same information, which is to say, not at all. But-”

“What information?” Kit interrupted. 

“...Admittedly, nothing specific, but there’s hints-”

“Of course there are, he wants to draw you in-”

“I just haven’t followed them up yet.”

“And you shouldn’t! Ernest doesn't give things away by accident. Anything you think you have will be a controlled leak, designed to manipulate. He _threatened_ you, why aren’t you focusing on that?”

“He had to. It was a formality.”

“And that was understood, was it? You understood that? At the time?

“Look, you weren’t there, you didn’t see. He seemed so tired, it was… unusual.” 

“But the situation, the context,”

“The context wasn’t his fault.”

“Was it not? He couldn’t have contacted you in person, on a less vital day?”

“I would never have listened, I would never have stayed.”

“And that is still _his_ fault, not yours.”

Lemony took an awkward sip of tea. Of course she was right, he knew that. It just didn’t feel like enough to outweigh his intuition, and he wasn’t sure how to explain. He also knew that the encounter with Ernest had left him far more shaken he was choosing to tell, and it was very likely both his siblings could see that clear as day. It then dawned on him that leaving certain details vague meant _explicit_ assumptions would be made, instead of the relatively small embarrassments he was avoiding in the first place. That is a mistake which should be corrected, he thought, making no plans to do so. The memory swam in his vision, of Ernest tired and unstable, begging him for intimacy, racked with loneliness and lust. All the textbook signs. He looked up from his cup. Kit’s stare pierced him to the core. 

Quietly she said, “Don’t do it. Ernest is a deeply cruel person, I _guarantee_ it was all for show, he tapped into all your weak points. Practically in order for heaven’s sake! Literally and-”

“-literally and figuratively, yes. I know.”

Lemony looked miserable. Kit sighed and fussed with her hair.

“Well you need to know it _better_.”

In the awkward silence, Jacques’ chair creaked. 

“I don’t see why there’s this big mystique around them,” he shrugged. “They’re just people.”

“Yes,” Lemony wheeled to face him, newly enthused, “Yes. But they’re trying very hard not to be.”

Kit looked uncomfortable. “Must you talk that way, like they’re a single entity? It’s not fair.”

“On who?”

“Any of them. All of them. And apparently,” she added bitterly, “all of us too.”

Jacques regarded Lemony steadily.

“ _You’ve_ got your rescuing urge. You want to _save_ him.”

“And what, you disapprove?”

“Who, me? How could I possibly. In any case, positive emotion is the better motivator. If you _can_ stand the smug bastard’s cloying presence for more than thirty seconds we could use all the help we can get, goodness knows I never get any sense out of him.”

Lemony mumbled into his tea. “It’s not right. No one person should aspire to be a cog.”

The table was quiet for a while after that. The Snickets each thought their own private thoughts, with increasing consternation. Eventually the silent intensity became too much for Kit, and she turned to Jacques, a forced brightness in her voice.

“...so, you and Frank? How did you two, end up,”

Jacques needed very little encouragement to launch into a sentence he’d been sitting on for some time.

“Frank heavily implied that he only picked me out to fool around with because I was statistically the most unlikely to turn traitor,” he announced, and laughed. “Sounds about right.”

“Maybe… why didn’t Dewey didn’t tell me? If this has been going on so long.”

“Maybe he doesn’t know. Does it matter?”

“Maybe he doesn’t like to discuss his siblings’ love life, like most people,” offered Lemony.

Jacques ignored this suggestion with a vengeance. “I suspect Frank must have other fuck toys though. Far too well prepared for me to be the only one. Could stock a brothel with that collection of-” 

Kit batted his words out of the air with her hands. “ _Hist_ , approaching.”

-


	3. Chapter 3




	4. Chapter 4




	5. Chapter 5




	6. Chapter 6




	7. Chapter 7




	8. Chapter 8




	9. Chapter 9




	10. Chapter 10




	11. Chapter 11




	12. Chapter 12




End file.
